Vallejo district to avoid major budget cuts

For the first time in years, the Vallejo City Unified School District is on track to avoid major budget cuts.

"We are moving forward on trying to establish normalcy," said Lisa Grant-Dawson, the district's chief business officer, during Wednesday's school board meeting.

The last several years saw the board make multi-million dollar cuts as the state, which funds public school districts, grappled with its own deficit.

However, state voter approval last November of Proposition 30, a set of tax initiatives, prevented another round of devastating reductions.

Still, Grant-Dawson cautioned the school board that there could still be changes in departmental or school site budget plans. Any would depend on any programmatic shifts or how many students are at each campus. A tentative spending plan will be presented in mid-May.

After her report, the school board unanimously voted to eliminate more than 42 classified positions, ranging from teacher assistants to academic support providers and special education para educators.

Some of the cuts are considered precautionary.

"As funding sources or grants become available, we will rescind (the layoffs)," said Eleanor Bruton, director of human resources for classified employees.

In addition to budget talks, Superintendent Ramona Bishop gave a "State of the Vallejo City Unified School District" report in which she outlined successes and continuing challenges.

For example, the district has worked to substantially reduce its suspension rates. A study by the Civil Rights Project at the UCLA noted that the district had some of the highest suspension rates in the state, particularly among African American students.

In 2010-2011, the district had more than 7,000 suspensions. But according to Bishop's report, the district today has cut that number by almost two-thirds, to 2,600 suspensions, with less than two months left of school.

"This is not looking the other way while students have behaviors; this is reducing suspendable offenses," Bishop said.

Bishop also introduced the district's new state trustee, Melvin Iizuka. He recently retired from the Los Angeles County Office of Education where he worked as director of business advisory services.

Iizuka takes over from Richard Damelio, who had been state administrator since June 2004 when the district ceded local control and accepted a $60 million state loan. The school board's full control of governance was restored this month, with Damelio retiring.

The state trustee will not have the day-to-day powers that Damelio had, but rather will serve in an oversight role. He can challenge decisions he feels endangers the district's financial stability. The trustee will be in place until the district pays off the state loan.